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воскресенье, 5 октября 2014 г.

The Islamic State and the Soul of Islam?

By Mohsin Mohi-Ud Din

As the U.S. ramps up military
action against terrorists in Iraq and Syria, an emerging narrative is calling
for 'soul searching' in Muslim communities and the 'Muslim World'. As a Muslim
myself, I find this trend nauseating and worrisome.

'The war against the terrorist
outfit ISIS is a symbolic battle for the soul of Islam,' say some cable news
hosts and self-appointed experts of the Middle East. 'The fight against ISIS
will also require soul searching within Muslim communities,' say others. And so
it goes that the flood-gates for scapegoating an entire religious community
have opened. As a result, Muslim women and men all over the world, who have
been fighting for cultural dialogue and equality everyday, remain marginalized.
Also at risk of marginalization are two momentous events in Islam -- the Hajj
and Eid-ul Adha -- in which millions of Muslims gather to celebrate harmony and
pray for peace. These global events are representative of Muslim communities,
not the actions of terrorists.

Why do I care about this and
why should you? The battles against terrorists such as the Islamic State and
the centuries-old tension between Sunnis and Shias are not symbolic of the
'soul of a religion'. Instead, these sectarian and politically fueled schisms
are symbolic of the battles for the soul of humanity, pluralism and peace. That
means all of us... you and I have a role to play. This is a lot less convenient
for you, the media and me because it is a battle that involves dialogue among
Muslims from different communities, global citizens from non-Muslim communities
and most importantly, leaders of the religious and political elites across the
world. Any other narrative is a distraction from what is really at stake: our
collective humanity.

Repeating the same mistakes

One of the greatest barriers to
cultural dialogue and inter-cultural understanding -- which in turn feeds
ineffective foreign policies and social distortions -- has been the
presentation of Islam as living within a monolithic 'Muslim World'.

So long as we are talking about
ISIS and the Middle East; nothing from the Middle East can ever be singularly
representative of Islam, other than the holy cities of Mecca, Medina and
Jerusalem. The Middle East represents a small portion of Muslim communities
with two out of three Muslims being in Asia. Cultures' continuous colonization
of spirituality enables varying degrees of minority rights and pluralism from
region to region.

For instance, a cleric in a
Sunni mosque in D.C is likely to interpret and preach things differently from
clerics in Amman or Riyadh. To put it simply, there is no such thing as a
singular 'Muslim World'. The laws and practices of places such as Pakistan,
Iran, Saudi Arabia contrast greatly with Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Morocco
and other nations.

While the differences are many,
the religion's unifying essence can be found in the five pillars of Islam:
proclaiming that there is one God and that Muhammad as His messenger; fasting;
daily prayer; charity; and performing the Hajj pilgrimage if you are healthy
and financially able.

Sectarianism is not innate to
Islam

Historians have consistently
documented how the Sunni/Shiite split was predominately political in nature --
relating to disagreements on who would succeed Prophet Muhammad as leader of
the small Muslim community at the time. Indeed the origins of the Sunni/Shiite
split were violent and tragic. The extremism of today capitalizes on the
political roots of this tragedy with one political end in mind: power. Despite
the current disturbing landscape, history exhibits examples in which Shias and
Sunnis lived peacefully together for long periods of time. Lessons can be taken
from the political and social environment of such periods of peace.

Origins and redrawing the soul

The actions and spiritual
guidance of the majority of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims are in no way
dictated by the repressive, political opportunists of ISIS, nor Saudi Arabia
and Iran for that matter. To put it simply: not my religion, nor its soul, can
be redrawn by one man, one terrorist group, one country and the political games
of one region.

What are 'we' fighting for?

What we are really talking
about here when we speak of the tragic violence befalling the Middle East is
the soul of humanity. Our collective humanity needs to do some soul searching
when it comes to invading countries on false pretenses, when it comes to
climate inaction, discrimination against minorities and women, and allowing
dictators to gas their own people with impunity. Be it with the Buddhist monks
and Rohingya in Myanmar, the Christians and Muslims in the Central African
Republic, or the Israelis and Palestinians, people of all creeds and
geographies have a role to play for global peace and development today.

Of course, there are important
social-political issues within individual Muslim communities that need to be
resolved, particularly when it comes to freedom of expression, gender equality
and minority rights. But these issues vary by country and socio-political
environments. The trajectory of these battles will be determined by the
dialogue -- or lack of it -- happening at people's dinner tables, classrooms,
voting halls, mosques and local media.

Even before global events such
as the Arab Spring, Muslims from all regions have been on the front lines of
opening spaces for debate and cultural understanding. I have seen this
personally in my interactions with youth activists across Muslim societies as
part of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Fellows. I found myself in
rooms filled with passionate Arab intellectuals, artists and entrepreneurs who
echoed the desire for progress and development but who also believe in
realizing such goals as part of an evolution, not a revolution. Amidst the haze
of false narratives, these important, soft battles being waged by Muslim women
and men are complex and subsequently under-reported.

Messengers in the news and
policy makers should refocus the narrative, being that the soul of any religion
is not man-made. On the contrary, political conditions have molded the
fragmented, highly sectarian world we live in today, in places like Iraq,
Syria, Pakistan, CAR and Myanmar. It's time we as a humanity look in the mirror
and do some soul searching, not just the so-called 'Muslim World'.

If there were a soul, here it
lives...

Our humanity -- I'd like to
think -- has its essence in the extraordinary-ordinary examples for love and
hope that live far from the hungry eye of media-hype and convenient false
narratives.

This week, millions of Muslims
-- from varying races, ethnicities and sects -- descend on Mount Arafat near
Mecca as part of fulfilling the Hajj pilgrimage. Here, people of all colors
will exhibit humility and pray for forgiveness, mercy and peace. Millions more
around the world will also celebrate the second of Islam's holly days, Eid-ul
Adha. If there is such a thing as a soul for Islam, it is in the strength,
humility, kindness and unity of women and men displayed each year during the
Hajj, Ramadan and Eid.

Facts from History

CEDAW

UNSCR 1325

Strategy for engagement and joint actions on confidence building and P2P diplomacy that involve women. Final Report

YOUTH PEACE PLAN OF GEORGIA

This publication is produced within the framework of the project - ‘‘Support Democratic Participation of Young Women in Building Peace and Stability in Georgia’’ implemented in Georgia by International Network for Civil Development - INCD in partnership with Young Women Experts’ Network for Peace and Security (YWEPS) and with the financial support of the Embassy of Canada through Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI).